


The Lake’s Comforting Smiles

by Ourfandomcrazyuniverse



Category: Team Starkid - Fandom, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid, tgwdlm - Fandom
Genre: Also like usual Bill and Alice are the ‘Lake’ family x, Bill is a dad figure to deb, Deb backstory, I know it sounds dark and from the summary but I promise it’s not too bad aha, Other, but it’s not that bad but thought I should tag anyway, just bad living situation implications, tw: homophobia’s implications, tw: possible neglect/abuse implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24182422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ourfandomcrazyuniverse/pseuds/Ourfandomcrazyuniverse
Summary: “After the apocalypse Bill started to like Deb more. She was good for Alice and kept her sane.“ That’s why Deb is basically part of the family now! Always invited to little days out and events with them. But Bill soon discovers why Debs family don’t seem to offer to same for Alice
Relationships: Alice & Bill (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Alice/Deb (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Bill & Deb (the guy who didn’t like musicals)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	The Lake’s Comforting Smiles

**Author's Note:**

> So this goes off like two paragraphs in ‘Did You Know That I Wanted To Live With You’, a fic I have in my works. However you don’t need to read it to understand this at all.  
> I wrote this idea while writing that fic, but finally got it down now,, because there’s a fic coming out i’ll be doing soon and I thought having my thoughts of Deb’s backstory out first would be useful. Apart from that, enjoy! :-)

After the apocalypse Bill started to like Deb more. She was good for Alice and kept her sane. He still didn’t love the weed thing, as he’d mention in passing occasionally, but he trusted Deb to look after his daughter, he knew she wasn’t the peer pressuring type and she seemed to be good for Alice, building her confidence up and making her happy. After the almost end of the world, that’s all he wanted, all that he knew was actually important, Alice being happy.

So Bill happily invited Deb out to lots of their family outings, and every single time without fail, Deb had said yes. As funny as that was for Bill when he thought about how many times he took her places, he was glad Alice had someone she could rely on for the future.

He’d offered and had driven Deb over the Nantucket bridge, where Alice was staying with her mom, and taken the girls to the Clivesdale concert hall last week, orchestra tickets - no vocals of course - that he’d had for months on a lucky flash sale. And now this Friday, it was a bit more of a laid back restaurant trip, he made sure there were at least a few vegan options before picking it, and asked Alice if she’d like to invite Deb to tag along with them also.

Of course, he had a few outings that were just daddy daughter days, like old times. His heart swelled when Alice was the one who asked for it to just be the two of them. She, like every other resident of Hatchetfield, realised how much she was taking for granted in life, and now she had a second chance she wanted to show how much she loved the people she cared about. And Bill was trying, somehow even harder, to connect with his kid, except this time it seemed to be working.

Right now they’d finished their meals, and Alice had excused herself to the toilet, leaving Bill and Deb to put their coats on.

“Hey Bill?” Deb piped up after some time. Bill had told her to call him that a while ago now. 

He smiled over to her, dropping his coat zip. “Yeah Deb? Everything okay?” He asked with a smile, then getting worried something was up. Especially since Deb wasn’t looking at him.

But Deb felt her cheeks burning, she never got red faced, very rarely got embarrassed or nervous about shit because she normally just said ‘ah fuck it’ when something too emotionally tolling happened, but this was different. She loosely held onto her own fingers as she kicked her toe into the linoleum ground. “Hey I... uh I just wanted to thank you.” She managed to let out, in a way unbeknownst to her.

Well that certainly wasn’t what Bill was expecting, he blinked at her.

“Y’know...” she sighed as she clearly had to explain from the silence Alice’s dad was giving her “For taking me out with you guys a lot.” She got out, feeling better as she finally got it over with. Bill started to smile “Oh Deb-“ But she wasn’t done yet. 

“And I’m sorry for my family not doing the same for Alice. Like, ever. I promise I’m not taking your... your kindness for granted. I’m really sorry they’ve never done anything like that for her.”

It was all gonna spill out soon and Deb knew it, she tried to hold it all in like it was word vomit, even as her heart paced faster. Then she remembered how she tried to hold those lyrics in as some part of her attempt to coax Alice out of the darkness and safety of the choir room and it all got a little much. She suddenly wished she hadn’t said anything or to just run away now.

But before she could get overwhelmed, Bill and already moved towards her, and had gently placed his arms around her shoulders, to hug Deb. She flinched and was shocked for a moment.

Bill smiled gently, not that she could see. “It’s no problem. You’re a good kid Deb.”

That’s when she blindly threw her arms around him and squeezed, much tighter than he was as he just gently lay his arms over her, but he gave her that reassuring dad back pat as she clung on tight, not even noticing her balled up fists on his work shirt sleeves.

That’s when they heard the click, of Alice who had forgotten to put her phone on silent. As she came out the bathroom she looked up and her jaw nearly hung open, she had scrambled silently for her phone and took a photo of them like that. They backed away as they saw her smiling giddily at them, clinging to her phone and the new picture on it like she was gonna burst.

~~~~~~

Bill was driving with Alice in the passenger seat, to Debs house this Saturday. He listened to Dan and Donna as Alice had her own earphones in. No one really listened to music much anymore, so he presumed she was watching a video and let her be. 

He was taking the girls to Clivesdale’s water park, oh he remembered being a kid when that first opened, the pure joy it brought, and he hadn’t taken Alice in years. When he asked if she’d like to go she seemed very excited at the concept of the day trip, so they had their swimming clothes and towels packed in bags in the boot and Deb had texted saying she’d got all her stuff packed too. Alice took out her earphones, pausing her podcast, to tell her dad that fact, saying Deb was ready to just come from the door, which was good because they were only 5 minutes away now. Then, after a few moments of silence after her dads response, Alice paused, before clicking her phone screen off and turned to her dad to properly talk. Bill kept his eyes on the road but licked his lips nervously.

“Dad?”

Bill flicked his eyes to his daughter now. She was facing him with big eyes and a frown on her face. That worried him. “Yes sweetie?” He asked, concerned but trying to seem cool. He turned the radio down.

Alice sighed, looking to her hands she was cradling in her lap, to the street sign that indicated she was close, then to her dads chest, unable to look him in the eye. “Just...” she sighed, it was almost like a shudder she was covering up, “if you see Deb’s family, which you shouldn’t y’know...”

Bill was confused as to why he shouldn’t, but shut up to let her speak.

“Well... just... don’t say I’m Deb’s girlfriend okay?”

The last part came out much quicker than her previous sentences, so much Bill had to latch on to her every word. But he got it. Then he _got_ it.

He looked to his daughter, feeling bad, but not showing it. He had to stop an ‘ohhh’ noise from leaving his mouth, _not_ productive. Instead he told her securely, in his protective fatherly way “I promise sweetie.” Moving his palm from the gear stick to Alices hands to give them a quick, soft pat.

Something she very much appreciated.

When they finally reached Deb’s house and Bill turned the ignition off, he went to leave the door, then he noticed Alice hadn’t undone her seatbelt. Instead she seemed to be holding onto it fiercely. Bill sat back down the inch he’d moved to ask her “Are you not getting out?” Looking her up and down.

Alice moved her head at his voice, looking to his suspicious face, then her eyes fell back to the house acrosss the road. She clung tighter to the seatbelt, before shaking her head. “I’m just gonna wait here dad, you’ll only be like one minute just knocking on the door.” Bill had planned to speak to her mother but was going to leave it at that. Until Alice spoke up again, undoing her seatbelt. “Actually, I’ll move to the backseat so I can sit with her.”

He watched her do that quickly, keeping her eyes on house the entire time, even after she quietly shut the door and peered out the window.   
The only thought in his head was ‘Oh dear.’

He approached the door and went to ring the white doorbell he’d spotted from afar. When he got closer though he saw it was more of a faded gray, with white masking tape holding it together and scrawled in ink the word “ **`KNOCK`** ” instead. So, politely, Bill knocked.

The door was flung open too quickly, as if someone was already standing there, opened by a man in his late teens to mid twenties, just in a shirt with holes surrounding the collar, and his faded underwear. Bills smile definitely dropped a little at that, but he tried not to stare. Instead, he cleared his throat. “Ohh. Hello. I’m... here to collect Deb?” He eventually got out. For a second he wondered if maybe he had the wrong home from the drowsy look on the man’s face. 

But then, without changing his expression, their head turned up the stairs and yelled “DEBORAH!”

Ah. This must be Debs older half brother! Of course. Bill didn’t know why he’d forgotten about him momentarily. Deb has mentioned him... at least twice, he thought. And after the bellow the young man was out of his eyesight, slinking off to a door that when opened for a second looked to be the kitchen, and out of Bills mind. He smiled as he heard bounding down the stairs.

Deb ran down with her shoulder bag donned with badges on, just as her brother walked past her up the stairs too carrying a plate. He smacked her upside the head on passing without looking back, a little too hard for Bills taste, he even raised his finger as if to point and talk to the man, but then he saw Deb had raised a different finger. 

And when Deb saw Bill saw, she froze. She finished the last few steps a little more daintily now, saying “Oh I’m really sorry.” with a reddening face. She usually tried to tone down the swearing around Bill, he knew that. And even if he didn’t appreciate the swearing at first, he did appreciate the effort around him

Plus he was a bit too taken aback by her half brother, so he let it go, with a wave of his hand. “Ah. Don’t worry, we’ve got a packed day today.” He said with kind eyes and a smile returning to his face as Deb approached him at the bottom of the stairs.

And with that reminder, Deb huffed a smile back, shouldering her bag again filled with her swimming costume and all the other crap you need for a water park. Not to mention water guns. She was excited to have some sort of weapon that she knew Bill would condone at least. Not that she cared about weapons, at all, more Bills health, remembering the fake, although real looking, swords she brought round to Alices once and he nearly had a heart attack over.

Bill continued to talk, peering round the corner now, the hallway nothing but stairs and closed doors. “Is your mother in? I just want to let her know what time you’ll be back and such.” He finally asked, his last call here.

Bill had heard from Alice that Deb’s dad she only saw every so often, if he decided to stay over, and apparently that was normally when he didn’t have a job for a few weeks or was coming down from really bad high for a day or two, otherwise Deb rarely saw him at all. Alice had once described it as ‘home just being an option’. So, he’d talk to her mother.

But Deb did not like that idea, any more than the idea of Bill calling up her dad for permission. She blocked off a door with her back, and anyone could guess that’d be where her mother was. Deb shook her head just twice. “Oh you really don’t need to Mr. Lake, I told her already.”

But before Bill could either continue arguing with Deb or accept, a screech of “DEBORAH!” Rung out, the door opening and Deb stumbling backwards. And in came her mother to the living room, in a silk with a feather trimmed robe. “What’s with all that racket?!” Then, her mother spotted Bill.

Debs head flipped forward and down, red faced with embarrass and hurt already. 

Bill looked like a deer in headlights. But smiled when he realised it was Debs mother, whom he had not met yet, no matter his immediate perception, or instinct. He walked just inside the room and Deb followed, behind Bill even in her own home.

Her mother smiled at Bill. Her voice seemed to have dropped in volume and risen in pitch, as she stuck her hand out at this nice looking man who had just walked into her home, and made an effort to purr. “Enchante.”

Deb wanted to die.

Bill, awkward and socially somewhat inept as ever, or maybe he was just very adverse to this situation, gripped her hand and shook it formally. Still with a polite, but business acquaintance like, smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes at that. A fed up “Ugh” left her lips in a snarl and she collapsed into her arm chair, eyes no longer caring to look at Bills.

“How do you do? I’m Bill Lake, I’m taking Deb out with my kid to the water park in Clivesdale today? We should be back by three.” Bill got straight onto business. But while he was talking he realised there wasn’t much point trying to keep polite eye contact with Debs mother if she wouldn’t even look in his general direction anymore. So he looked around at the living room instead. There was mess everywhere.

He knew kids were messy, even if Alice was a very good and tidy teen, but this clearly was not a teenagers mess. Boxes and boxes of packages and items you’d see on a tv shopping channel stacked to about Paul’s girlfriends height. Musty cocktail glasses and ripped magazines everywhere, not to mention the beer cans, wrappers and strewn about overflowing ash trays. It wasn’t exactly hoarders, but it couldn’t have been a pleasant living area.

Bill looked to Deb and she was standing closer to him, by the door, urging him backwards in an attempt to be subtle. She was doing this by going back a few steps to the front door herself, moving forward if Bill didn’t step too, and hoping Bill would subconsciously keep that close proximity to her. Thus following her out.

Deb’s mother made another “Eugh” sound as Bill spoke of her daughters day plans. And then she took out a cigarette, from a box seemingly stuffed down the side of the armchair. 

Deb turned her body towards the door. Why couldn’t she have just waited by the door? Well, she knew why when she heard her half-brother fumbling downstairs, but it still would’ve been better than this. She was angling her body to the door now, begging Bill to see her and subconsciously pick up the message they had to leave, she almost wished the water park had time slots, then they’d have a reason they had to leave right this minute. But while her mother was absorbed in her smoke, Bill’s eyes were still on her mother.

“We might be taking her out for dinner in Clivesdale too.” Bill added matter of factly. It made Deb turn to pay full attention him. She hadn’t known that.

Bill hadn’t known that till a few seconds ago either.

He mother waved a hand dismissively at them. But it wasn’t like Bills hand earlier, one that urged Deb not to worry ; this one gave no implication she cared about the two of them or what they got up to.

“Right.” Bill sighed, clapping his hands softly and finally turning to Deb and giving her a dad smile. “Shall we?” He extended his arm and Deb bowed under it, neatly leading him to the door with a grip on her shoulder strap. She had her hand on the painted gold doorknob when-

“Oh Deborah?”

Her mothers voice chimed and rang in Debs ears painfully. Her fingers flinched on the cold metal, but she turned towards the living room, knowing those few seconds given up to her would be easier than a fight tonight. 

Her mother smiled over to her lazily. “Have a fun time.”

Deb turned to Bill, smiling at him seemed to somehow make her feel better. Maybe it was because he smiled back at her after. And she liked that. She liked his kind smiles, and him smiling down at her. They left together.

Alice was peering from her window seat, gripping her car door, when she finally saw the two of them emerge. She saw her dad go in, with whispers of pleas on her end that she knew he wouldn’t hear, and then waited and counted every minute they were inside there.

Knowing how long they were in there for, helped her know what to do as Deb opened the car door. Alice grabbed her hand immediately before Deb had even properly sat down, as her dad was distracted getting into the drivers seat. Deb slammed the door shut behind her quickly, before smiling down to her hand, then to her girlfriend, showing, everything was good now. And when Alice gave a small smile back, that’s when Deb started to believe that herself.

Bill didn’t even mind the nuzzling they tried to subtly do throughout the car journey and throughout day when they thought he wasn’t looking. Even when he’d come back from finding Alices hair tie in their swim locker, or getting their drinks from the waiter, he just smiled and turned away, fondly.

~

Alice was holding Deb in her bed, after Bill had allowed her to come over and stay last minute. Alice had just tried to hide Deb when she entered, telling her dad that they were both really tired and would probably just want to get to bed, since she definitely smelled of what she’d been smoking, but that was gone now and Alice could snuggle into Debs shoulder and be held there without a single worry. Well, maybe not a single, but a lot of them dispersed around Deb. 

But tonight was a mixture of the two of them looking out for each other. Deb had had another fight with her mom and her dad over the phone too, she didn’t want to talk about what and remind herself of it, so Alice didn’t poke. She just held on to her. 

Deb was still stoned, but maybe slightly more truthful and open, as she told Alice, staring at her pictures hanging in her room “I’ve kinda started seeing your dad as the dad I wished I had.” 

She said it in passing. In mention with something else she was talking about, but all of that was torn from Alices head when that statement was made. She raised her head off her girlfriends shoulder and instead raised herself up on her elbow, looking at her. Deb shied into her sleep shirt, cheeks flaring a bit at that reaction. “Does that freak you out?”

Alice shook her head quickly, concerned at what her own reaction looked like, since she knew she wasn’t feeling anything bad, before smiling down sweetly at her sweet girlfriend. “No I just.... that’s so nice!”

Deb swore she’d never seen Alice smile so hard with her eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> (Uploading a fic I’ve had in my drafts for months? Wow, didn’t know it did that)
> 
> I hope you liked!  
> I know Deb isn’t the biggest character but I felt like it was important to get this draft out for what I have planned next
> 
> As always please leave any and all comments as they really help me with motivation, inspiration and are just so nice to receive (even constructive criticism!)
> 
> And importantly stay safe y’all 💕


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